Enterprise SaaS veteran to expand Zoovu’s position as Discovery Experience leader and accelerate U.S. growth
BOSTON – January 10, 2023 – Zoovu, an AI-powered Discovery Experience Platform for B2B and B2C e-commerce, today announced the appointment of James Novak as chief executive officer. Novak brings more than two decades of enterprise SaaS experience scaling companies globally and building AI-driven, multi-product platforms.
Before joining Zoovu, Novak served as CEO of Fiix, a cloud-based, AI-enabled asset management and maintenance software platform that empowers industrial companies to modernize their operations. Under his leadership, Fiix grew its revenue more than 1,000 percent and was acquired in 2021 by Rockwell Automation (NYSE: ROK), a prominent global automation company in the Fortune 500. Prior to Fiix, Novak held various executive leadership roles at Blackberry, where he oversaw the hardware, software and services business for one of the largest carrier partners and channels globally. He also helped drive Blackberry’s successful entry into new markets, including Latin America, The Gulf region and Eastern Europe.
“I am thrilled to join Zoovu as CEO at a pivotal time for the company as we embark on this next chapter of long-term growth and market expansion,” said Novak. “The digital commerce market is exploding, and brands are eager to change the way they interact with consumers in new and innovative ways. Zoovu is building the teams and platform to disrupt product discovery, so businesses and consumers can finally break free from choice paralysis by removing the friction so many are faced with today. E-commerce is just the tip of the iceberg; this affects many other verticals and industries.”
Headquartered in Boston, Zoovu is a global company with over 250 employees and established operations in EMEA and North America. Following 3x revenue growth in the last three years, the company secured $169 million in funding in early 2022 from leading growth equity firm FTV Capital to further strengthen its AI and data-driven Discovery Platform and accelerate its go-to-market strategy, particularly in North America. Zoovu boasts 250 enterprise customers globally and has a rapidly expanding set of customers, including leading brands such as 3M, Columbia, Microsoft and Whirlpool.
“James has extensive SaaS and AI experience with an impressive track record of building global businesses at scale. His technology leadership and customer-focused mindset make him the ideal leader as we continue to scale and expand into new markets, particularly in North America,” said Brad Bernstein, board member and managing partner at FTV Capital. “As brands heighten their focus and attention on delivering better digital experiences, we’re excited about the tremendous market opportunity ahead and look forward to working with James and the rest of Zoovu’s strong leadership team.”
A pioneer in the Discovery Category, Zoovu helps B2B and B2C businesses deliver engaging customer experiences that enable buyers to make the right purchase decision and convert. Zoovu’s Discovery Platform combines a semantic data solution that organizes, structures and enriches businesses’ incomplete and disparate product data, and leading-edge AI engagement experiences including conversation assistants, configuration and search. With the digital commerce market projected to reach $17 trillion by 2030, growing at 15 percent CAGR, Zoovu’s innovative offering has enormous growth potential within a thriving market and beyond as the company looks to expand to a number of other markets in the near future.
About Zoovu
Zoovu empowers businesses to help buyers discover products and make purchase decisions, wherever they are. The AI-driven platform structures product content and enriches it with language that people understand to enable powerful and personalized Discovery Experiences such as visual configurators, semantic search and conversational assistants across all digital channels and partners. Companies such as 3M, Amazon, BSH and Logitech use Zoovu’s secure and scalable no-code platform to engage, educate and convert customers, streamline buyer journeys, and deliver great purchase experiences to millions of customers worldwide, daily. For more information, please visit www.zoovu.com and follow us on Linkedin.
Media Contact
Zoovu
Sarah Assous
s.assous@zoovu.com
617-794-5571